ASU's Leading Skunk Expert Featured in Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine

Professor Robert Dowler, leading skunk researcher and curator of mammals of the Angelo State Natural History collection will be featured in this month’s Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine.

Dowler has been a leading expert on skunks for many years. His extensive work with these creatures has allowed ASU to showcase one of the largest skunk specimen collections in the country.

Dowler and his students have conducted extensive work in studying the five species of skunks native to the state of Texas. Dowler’s current research project will continue until the spring of 2017. Their goal is to find where the eastern skunk is currently making its home. The decline in the population of this species has led it to be a candidate for the endangered species status; Professor Dowler’s research will contribute to this classification taking place.

Dowler has received numerous awards including the Joseph Grinnell Award for Excellence in Education from the American Society of Mammologists and teaching and research excellence awards from the ASU Faculty Senate and ASU Alumni Association. He has also been the recipient of the Packard Outstanding Educator Award from the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, and the Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Award from the Texas Tech University System.

Professor Dowler is a Biology professor at Angelo State University where he also serves as the Curator for Mammals of the ASNHC.